Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Dec 16 2004
Book explores local Armenian community
Thursday, December 16, 2004
The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, in
association with the Armenians of New England Committee, has
announced the publication by its Armenian Heritage Press of “The
Armenians of New England: Celebrating a Culture and Preserving a
Heritage,” proceedings of the 1999 conference of the same name held
at Bentley College in Waltham. The book will be available for
purchase in time for Christmas and will be formally launched in 2005.
The papers presented in the volume cover a wide range of topics
relevant to the Armenians of New England specifically, and many of
universal relevance. Religion, immigration, literature, architecture,
music, civic, political, and cultural institutions, inter-ethnic
relations – these subjects and others are illuminated by the articles
contained in the book.
The Armenians of New England conference was the first to
undertake the study of an Armenian community of North America and was
the result of the cooperation of a number of Boston-area Armenian
organizations. The organizing committee was formed from personnel
from the Armenian Cultural Foundation (Dr. Robert Mirak and Dr. Ara
Ghazarian), the Armenian International Women’s Association (Dr.
Suzanne Moranian and Dr. Barbara Merguerian), the Armenian Library
and Museum of America (Gary Lind-Sinanian), the Friends of Armenian
Culture Society (Dr. Varant Hagopian), Mayreni Publishing (Dr. Vatche
Ghazarian), the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (Manoog S. Young and Marc A. Mamigonian), the New England
Heritage Center (Dr. Joyce Malcolm), the office of state Sen. Steven
A. Tolman, and the New England Board of Higher Education. The
conference committee was co-chaired by Dr. Robert Mirak and Manoog S.
Young.
The conference and book were made possible by contributions from
a number of donors, including a major grant from the Knights of
Vartan Grand Council’s Fund for Armenian Studies.
The book was edited by Marc A. Mamigonian, with editorial input
from Dr. Barbara Merguerian, Dr. Suzanne Moranian, and Dr. Robert
Mirak. Mark McKertich designed the volume, which includes dozens of
photographs, many of them provided by Ruth Thomasian of Project SAVE
Armenian Photograph Archives.
Prof. Thomas O’Connor of Boston College, a noted scholar of
Boston history, provides the introduction for the book.
It is hoped that the conference and this volume of proceedings
will stimulate further research and publication on the Armenians of
New England, as well as other regions. It is likewise hoped that a
contribution has been made to the understanding of the history of
this community, both for Armenians and non-Armenians.
For more information call 617-489-1610, e-mail [email protected], or
write to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.